Peterborough MP calls on Home Secretary to outline plans to remove asylum seekers from the Great Northern Hotel

The Home Secretary is being urged to explain when asylum seekers will be removed from Peterborough’s Great Northern Hotel.

A demand has gone out to Suella Braverman MP to outline the Home Office’s plans to remove about 80 asylum seekers from the 170-year-old hotel in Station Approach.

Peterborough MP Paul Bristow has tabled a question in the House of Commons which calls on the Home Secretary to publish a timetable detailing how and when the use of the Great Northern Hotel as accommodation for asylum seekers will stop.

Mr Bristow has also tabled a second question that asks when ‘she plans to reply to the letter of 25 January 2023’ about ‘a hotel in Peterborough being stood up for asylum accommodation?’

It is the latest attempt by Mr Bristow to stop the prominent hotel being used for asylum seekers ever since the Home Office and its agents Serco brought in by coach the first asylum seekers on November 11 last year.

Mr Bristow and Peterborough City Council say the hotel is an inappropriate venue for a refuge for asylum seekers and that there is a risk to nearby infrastructure.

The council was looking at using planning rules to take court action against what officers say is a change of use of the hotel.

But a council spokesperson said: “We are still in ongoing discussions with the Home Office and are keeping all options open at the moment, including potential legal action.”